The Secret Lives of Wasps

From late icon Bobby Scott to present-day Biddles and Pews, Philadelphia’s elite families share — in their own words — the well-bred secrets of privilege, high stone walls, turtle soup, martinis and, believe it or not, “poontang”
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Sex and the Wasp

Thacher Longstreth, Main Line Wasp: “‘I’m Thacher Longstreth. I’m running for mayor of Philadelphia, and I hope you’ll vote for me.’ [addressing a woman in a bar, while campaigning in West Philadelphia in the 1950s] I mistakenly perceive a glimmer of recognition in her eyes. ‘How’d you like a little poontang, white boy?’ So there you have it: from grandmother to grandson, the decline and fall of Wasp authority in one easy lesson.”

William Baltzell: Women went wild for Digby.

Virginia Baltzell: I have old ladies come into my showroom and say, “I was in love with Digby.” And then they say, “He was my first date.” He was a lot of women’s first dates.

The Evening Bulletin, 1922: “Miss Helen Hope Montgomery [later known as Hope Montgomery Scott], the very pretty daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Leaming Montgomery, is the one debutante who defends bobbed hair. … and when it comes to a question of husbands, the ideal HE must be tall, good-looking, good-natured; he must have a million. Breathes there such a man?”

Hope Montgomery Scott, iconic socialite, interviewed in 1983: We [she and her husband of 71 years, Edgar Scott] saw each other 10 times, and then became engaged. Isn’t that great?

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